Saturday, September 28, 2013

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews! It's a way to highlight the books that everyone got throughout the week.

Purchased

Marie Antoinette Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Colette Iselin is
excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty
and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French
roots.

But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across
the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and
palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball
gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.

Colette
knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she
seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a
shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes
she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in
danger . . .

Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings
heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue —
and one killer queen.

The Wizard of Oz (The First Five Novels) by L. Frank Baum

I haven't read any of these (although the original was read to me when I was young), so I figured that I should buy them. Plus, it was bargain price!

The Taming of the Tights by Louise Rennison

Gadzooks! It's another
term at Dother Hall for Tallulah and her mates. But can they keep their
minds on the arts with all those boys about...After the
thing-that-will-never-be-mentioned last term, Tallulah is keen to put
all thoughts of Cain behind her. But that seems like that the last thing
he wants. Their performing arts college may have been saved by Honey's
mystery benefactor, but for how long is anyone's guess. So will Tallulah
finally get to wear those golden slippers of applause or will Dr
Lightowler swoop down on her glory days? And with Seth and Flossie
forever snogging, Vaisey and Jack loved-up and Phil and Jo fondly
biffing each other can Tallulah resist the call of her wild boy? Don
your craziest tights and Irish dance your way to some surprising and
hilariously unexpected answers...

For Review:

Slimed!

SLIMED! An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age
tells the surprisingly complex, wonderfully nostalgic, and impressively
compelling story of how Nickelodeon -- the First Kids' Network -- began
as a DIY startup in the late 70s, and forged ahead through the early
eighties with a tiny band of young artists and filmmakers who would go
on to change everything about cable television, television in general,
animation, and children's entertainment, proving just what can be done
if the indie spirit is kept alive in the corporate world of contemporary
media... All from those who made it happen!

*Nickelodeon was my childhood, and I still watch some of the shows that I grew up with, so I'm pretty excited about this one.

Friday, September 27, 2013

On a night after the
apparent suicide of high school student Elias Malmgren, a blood-red moon
fills the night sky. Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her
pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park
on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates—Vanessa, Linnéa,
Anna-Karin, Rebecka, and Ida—arrive, compelled by the same force. A
mystical being takes over Ida’s body and tells them they are fated to
fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. As the weeks pass, each girl
discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin exploring their
powers. The six are wildly different and definitely not friends . . .
but they are the Chosen Ones.

In this gripping first
installment of The Engelsfors Trilogy, a parallel world emerges in which
teenage dreams, insanely annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love
collide with dangerous forces and ancient magic. An international
sensation with rights sold in 26 countries, The Circle is razor-sharp and remarkable from start to finish.

Best Bits: The book opens in quite a gruesome way, which, while technically not a best bit, definitely started off by hooking me. It's clear right from the start that there's a supernatural entity at work, but the reader doesn't find out what it is for quite some time. There were quite a few twists and turns, I was wrong about who was aligned with whom on multiple occasions. The authors definitely know how to create a mood, and I definitely enjoyed being unsure of what was going to happen in the end. It's a dark book, so if that's something you enjoy during the fall, this might be a great time to grab it. Nit Picks: I'm not one to shy away from long books, in fact, I usually enjoy the wealth of information that would have to be cut to keep it around 300 pages. Still, it dragged. At times I had to go back and re-read because I caught myself skimming. The twists were great, but they weren't enough to keep me fully engaged with the mystery and plot when nothing happened for chapter after chapter. There were too many characters, as well. Even though I enjoyed them, I never felt fully connected with them. There were a couple of them that I empathized with on a basic level, and one that I absolutely disliked from the start. It was different from a series like The Daughter of the Moon (shout out to my 12-year-old self!), where each book focused on an individual member of a group, but the story continued to progress. I'm wondering if that's the way this should have been broken down. The CircleBy Sara Bergmark Elgren and Mats StrangbergPublished by Overlook Juvenile608 PagesReceived for review

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about.

Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick (a pseudonym of Jackson Pearce, and I always want to read more by her, woop!)
Scared for her safety in a city spilling over in chaos, Natalya has a dangerous secret-she laid eyes on the hidden Consetllation Egg. This shimmering Fabergé egg holds a power so great it protects the tsar and the one he loves.

When the Constellation Egg disappears, Natalya sets out to find the egg and save her beloved Alexei, the Tsa-to-be. But she is thwarted by a handsome, dark-haired Red named Leo who has plans of his own for the egg, and for Natalya.

Swirling with mysticism, Natalya's heart-stopping journey is perfect for fans of Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty.

Friday, September 20, 2013

L.T. Getty obtained her degree in English from
the University of Winnipeg, and has studied creative writing both
there and at the Canadian Mennonite University. She is
an open-water scuba diver, has studied kendo, and currently works as a
paramedic.

I’m a linear thinker – I like going from cause to effect in
a straight-forward, logical sense. I don’t normally think of the various life
cycles that we see all around us in nature – the way water flows, for instance,
and the flow of the seasons from one to the next. However, when I study
mythology, cycles stand out. For me, these cycles have a much more
in-the-hands-of-fate feeling – which is perhaps a blow to my own personal views
on fate and freewill.Regardless,
this appeals to me when I’m doing research for my stories. Because my novel
dealt with a combination of Norse and Celtic Mythology, I’ll focus on those
two, but first, I’ll touch briefly on probably the most famous myth of how we
get our seasons in the western classic mythos: The story of Persephone.

Greek - Persephone

Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest, was responsible for
making things grow. Her daughter, Persephone, was literally the goddess of
spring. At some point in time, Persephone was stolen by Hades, the greek god of
the dead, and taken to the underworld to be his wife. Demeter grew cold, and searched
for her stolen daughter - nothing grew while her daughter was missing. When
Demeter at last found Persephone, Persephone had eaten six seeds of a
pomegranate – forcing her to stay in the underworld six months of the year. It
was said that Spring was when Persephone returned to Demeter, and autumn was
when she left her mother to return to Hades. While she was with her mother, the world grew and flourished
– and grew cold when Persephone returned to her mother’s side.

Autumn has a different significance to the many different
cultures around the world – reflective in their mythologies and stories. Usually,
the sequence goes in this order, though there is some variation:

Spring: Birth

Summer: Young to Mid Adulthood

Autumn: Twilight Years

Winter: Old age and death

Only to return to Spring – often, with rebirth – many
classic mythos tells stories of deities slain and raising from the dead, only
to return from the underworld – perhaps autumn represents that struggle before
death or the journey to the underworld. One such cycle of death and rebirth can
be found in the Norse Tradition.

Norse – Ragnarok

Ragnarok (The Fate of the Gods), or Ragnarøkkr (The Twilight
of the Gods)

Rather than an ultimate beginning and ending, the Poetic Edda cited Ragnarok as the literal
end of the world – that the subsequent battle between the kingdom of the gods (Valhalla)
and the underworld (Hel) would result in the destruction of Earth and the other
worlds connected to them – the death of most of the gods and the subsequent
occurrence of various natural disasters, and the submersion of the world in
water, where the world would resurface, several already slain gods would
return, and the world would be repopulated by two humans, formed from a tree
and beginning the cycle again and again. The universe in Norse mythology
stemmed from a central holy tree, Yggdrasil, and it was said that the first
humans came from this tree – the holy tree in which all the worlds were
connected. It was said that this cycle had been going on and would go on
indefinitely.

Less well-known to most of us today are the stories of the
Ulster Cycle – although you might recognize some stories, such as Tristan and
Isolde, and Deidre of the Sorrows. I highly recommend you research Cu Chullain
and explore Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Mythology. The pre-Christian Celtic
peoples had a very ancient set of traditions, which carried on even after the conversion
process. While the gods have become heroes in many translations, these early
stories went on to influence the western tradition of romanticism and folklore.
Rather than a single mythology, we’ll consider an ancient festival that has
significance in North-American culture to this day.

Celtic - Samhain

Samhain is a Gaelic Festival marking the end of the harvest
season. It was celebrated from sunset October 31 to sunset November 1. The
Celts had four other seasonal festivals that marked the seasons and had
different significances: Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.

According to Celtic Mythology, Samhain marked the time where
the door to the Otherworld opened and for Fae and the dead to communicate with
the living. Samhain was effectively the festival for the dead, and according to
the Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, it said
that the fae doorways were always open at Samhain. We get our origin of
Halloween as people would leave ‘treats’ out for the fae and dress up in
costumes to befuddle them – if carrying iron or salt wasn’t an option. These however were not the pleasant
faeries many of you were thinking of – the original fair folk were usually seen
as tricksters, willing to steal people and bring them back to the fae realm.

These are just three ways autumn was viewed in three very distinct
cultures and mythos. Many
mythologies share the notion of life, death, and rebirth – and while not every
culture had a significant mythos regarding autumn, these ancient stories can
still hold significance to us in this day and age, remembering where we came
from and perhaps, if there is anything to be said for the notion of cycles,
where we can go as a diverse culture.

A huge thanks to L.T. Getty for taking the time to write this post! As you all know, I love mythology, so I geeked out when reading this. Now, on to the contest :)

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

One of the great things about fall is the huge number of amazing releases! I feel like every February/March I end up adding a ton of books to my Goodreads that are due out September-November...and I'm a super impatient person. Here are my most anticipated books of the fall (please note that the setup, for the sake of timeliness is inspired by Kristi at The Story Siren and her fabulous Books to Pine for posts):

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

I grew up in a very small town. Sadly, we don't do anything as cool as Stars Hollow, but locally there are a ton of fun activities. Being from Vermont the summer is full of farmer's markets and popup food trucks. Autumn brings out a whole new side to Vermont.

The Haunted Forest

Each year my family and I (yes, I totally would only do this with my family) visit The Haunted forest. During the weekend leading up to Halloween we head out to a local forest with trails, and watch as locals act out plays, jump out of the trees at you, and guide you through the woods. It's amazing. Sure, the acting isn't Hollywood quality, and I've never actually jumped in fright, but it's charming. Plus, I love the hundreds of jack-o-lanterns lining the path.

Sadly, the original Applefest that I went to every year is no longer being held. The owners of the Orchard that hosted were getting too old to continue to do it (plus it was in an extremely small town, so parking was always a mess...especially on the years it rained). I am looking forward to driving to a different Vermont town to attend Applefest this fall. Basically, it's a craft show, 4-H type of event. You can't beat people who are out on a nice fall day to enjoy the community...and there are fresh apple cider donuts. As someone who is actively trying to eat healthy, fall is tough...but I think an exception for a cider donut is a must!

Kim: No contest: Halloween. I’d prefer the opportunity to
dress up like a Victorian vampire over eating turkey any day of the year.

Amy: Thanksgiving. I love
that there’s very little build-up, a lot of sitting around involved, and I
believe mashed potatoes trump most Halloween candy.

2. I absolutely love reading mysteries in the fall, and I
read Pride & Prejudice every
Christmas. Do you have any fall favorites or rituals?

Kim: I like reading Gothic novels, like The Monk and The Castle of
Otranto, in front of my fireplace. Every year at Christmas, my family and I
have a tradition of watching Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Nutcracker ballet.

Amy: I don’t have any
rituals, per se, but I have come to embrace football season because it gives me
uninterrupted time to read when everyone else in my house is glued to the TV!

Amy: Amy: I love all the spooky
Victorian stuff; Henry James’s The Turn
Of the Screw, The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins. But I’ve got to say, James Dickey’s Deliverance is the book that had me most freaked-out in the midst
of reading it.

4. Horror
movies: yes, no, or only if I can peak through my fingers?

Kim: Yes, I love the thrill of a good horror movie!

Amy: Only if I can peak
through my fingers, but still ... it’s a small form of torture to feel that
much unnecessary stress!

5. Of course I can't forget to mention that you have a book
coming out this winter. Can you tell everyone a bit about Anyone But You?

Kim: We decided to create a back story that explained why the
Montagues and Capulets (in our case, the Montes and the Caputos) so detested
one another. In fact, we weave back-and-forth in time between not one, but two love stories in our spin on
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. One
story takes place in the 1930s and 1940s, while the other is set in modern-day
Chicago. You’ll have to read the book to find out how they’re connected!

Amy: There’s also a lot of Italian comfort food that factors
in. You’ll want to devour this book, in more way than one!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

I wanted to start off fall the right way, by talking about Halloween. I absolutely love it, and it's one of my favorite holidays. The costumes, candy, and decorations are always fun. The movies, however, take the cake. Here are my top five:

5. Arnold's Halloween

Alright, I'm starting off this list by cheating. This is, in fact, not a movie. It is, however, from my favorite childhood show. It's probably one of the reasons why I became so interested in mental health...so thanks Nickelodeon! This episode is a recreation of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast that caused panic in 1938 that cause panic. Something similar happens here, but should you want to seek it out on Youtube (or DVD), I won't spoil it.

4. Casper

I first saw this movie as a pre-teen, and after it totally had a crush on Devon Sawa. Those were the days. Now when I watch it I think about how selfless Casper is, and how it shows the meaning of family. Despite the outdated CGI, it's still a fun family movie.

3. Don't Look Under the Bed

Back in the Day when Disney Channel released decent movies, there was one that actually gave me the creeps (keep in mind this was during the time I was also watching Are You Afraid of the Dark? on Nick). This movie is about the boogeyman and imaginary friends. I know what you're thinking, how did this rank number three on my list? Well, it instilled the fear of creepy dolls in me. Seriously, never again do I want to see a doll's head turn in any direction...ick. Watching it again as an adult I realize that there are some lines that are insanely inappropriate (someone should have caught those), but I will always secretly (openly, now).

2. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Everything about this classic is amazing. The music, the comedic moment, poor Charlie's trouble with scissors. It's a classic and it always finds it's way to the TV during pumpkin-carving activities.

1. Hocus Pocus

For a Disney movie, they use the word Virgin a lot. It is weird to remember that this actually a Disney film, because it deals with some pretty adult themes. Now that I'm an adult (in age, not maturity) I can appreciate the humor in a new way. When I used to work at a video store in high-school/college this movie was constantly on from early October until the day after Halloween. I can happily report that no parents ever complained about it.

Wait, you might say. There aren't any scary movies on this list! You would be right, of course. I had the misfortune of watching 28 Days Later and having recurring nightmares about zombies running across my lawn. SO, hard pass to those type of things. For those who can watch them and enjoy them, I tip my hat to you.

Don't forget to check out Kristen's post at The Book Monsters here!
Check out Giveaway #2 and an author interview with Kim Askew & Amy Helmes Here!
Check out Giveaway #3 and Small-town Fall Activities here!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Welcome everyone to Fall Festival! Each day my co-host Sara at The Hiding Spot
and I will be posting interviews, guest posts, and fall spotlights!
I'll be hosting a contest each day, and I know that Sara will be hosting
some great giveaways, too. Don't forget to check out the posts by our
other participants, as following them in some way can give you bonus
entries into my contests! Here are the other blogs to check out:

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Pa`nop´ti`con ( noun). A
circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be
observed at all times. [Greek panoptos 'seen by all'] Anais Hendricks,
fifteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for the Panopticon, a
home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led
her here, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and there is
blood on Anais's school uniform. Smart, funny and fierce, Anais is a
counter-culture outlaw, a bohemian philosopher in sailor shorts and a
pillbox hat. She is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by
just about every adult she has ever met. The residents of the Panopticon
form intense bonds, heightened by their place on the periphery, and
Anais finds herself part of an ad hoc family there. Much more suspicious
are the social workers, especially Helen, who is about to leave her job
for an elephant sanctuary in India but is determined to force Anais to
confront the circumstances of her birth before she goes. Looking up at
the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais knows her fate: she
is part of an experiment, she always was, it's a given, a liberty - a
fact. And the experiment is closing in. In language dazzling, energetic
and pure, The Panopticon introduces us to a heartbreaking young heroine and an incredibly assured and outstanding new voice in fiction.

Best Bits: This one was very hard for me to rate. I'm very picky about the books I accept, because I have a hard time accepting books I don't think I'll like (since I know that author's blood/sweat/tears/potential papercuts go into their books). Unfortunately, my expectations for this one weren't what I received. I will say this: there are going to be people who will laude this book. The writing is gritty and doesn't shy away from profanity, or really sharing what the world can be like for those who get the short end of the stick. Fagan creates real characters, too. They're so real, that I know some people are going to be a bit uncomfortable with what they do and say. That's the sign that Fagan has captured something that most fiction doesn't have. Nit Picks: When I received this book, I thought there was going to be a paranormal twist to it. When I accept adult fiction, I am always looking for crossover appeal, and somehow I think I totally missed what this book was really about. On one hand, I appreciated the mental health aspect, but on the other I felt like I kept turning pages waiting for something big/paranormal to occur. For me, this book wasn't what I was looking for so it's getting a lower rating for me. I do admit, however, that if you like gritty, realistic adult fiction, this one might be the perfect thing to kick off fall with!The PanopticonBy Jenni Fagan Published by Hogarth282 PagesReceived for an honest reviewRating: D

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Rachel
died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first
time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text. Jaycee
and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that
terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before
Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police
blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it
has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first
clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret.
Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to
trust before she can expose the truth. In
the follow-up to her powerful debut, Jennifer Shaw Wolf keeps readers
on their toes in another dark, romantic story of murder and secrets.

Jennifer
Shaw Wolf grew up on a farm in the tiny town of St. Anthony, Idaho. She
spent cold Idaho mornings milking cows in the dark and attended a
school where Hunter’s Education was part of the sixth grade curriculum.
She’s always been a writer, whether it was sewing together books to read
to her little brothers or starting an underground newspaper in sixth
grade. She met the love of her life at Ricks College, (now BYU Idaho),
after he dropped her on her head. She graduated from Ricks and then
Brigham Young University, Provo with a degree in Broadcast
Communications. Now she lives in beautiful, green, (rainy) Lacey,
Washington with her husband and four kids. She loves to produce videos,
ski, ride horses, and read, but really all she has time for is chasing
kids and writing.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

What is teaser tuesday?It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read...

Open to a random page

Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page

Don't include spoilers.

"I should do something. Search through his things, or try to escape to my own room, or...in truth, my wits have left me for I cannot think what I ought to do." -Grave Mercy, page 339, by Robin LaFevers

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about. Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano

Bones meets Fringe in a big, dark, scary, brilliantly-plotted urban thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end.

Nearly
Boswell knows how to keep secrets. Living in a DC trailer park, she
knows better than to share anything that would make her a target with
her classmates. Like her mother's job as an exotic dancer, her obsession
with the personal ads, and especially the emotions she can taste when
she brushes against someone's skin. But when a serial killer goes on a
killing spree and starts attacking students, leaving cryptic ads in the
newspaper that only Nearly can decipher, she confides in the one person
she shouldn't trust: the new guy at school—a reformed bad boy working
undercover for the police, doing surveillance. . . on her.

Nearly might be the one person who can put all the clues together, and if she doesn't figure it all out soon—she'll be next.Published by Kathy Dawson BooksRelease Date: March 25, 2014

Monday, September 2, 2013

Where the art of improvisation meets the art of literature.
Based on the improv game First Line, Last Line, Colin Mochrie of Whose Line is it Anyway? fame, puts
a unique spin on works of classic literature. Taking the first line and
last line from classic books and poems, Colin recasts these familiar
stories in his own trademark offbeat style:
- A verbose coyote becomes the star of A TALE OF TWO CRITTERS- Ishmael is a struggling actor hunting for a good hair day in MOBY
- A rainy day at home becomes a zombie-killing adventure in THE CAT AND MY DAD
- Mighty Casey strikes out again in CASEY AT THE BAR
These
stories, and many more, prove that no literary masterpiece is too big,
or too small, for the improvisational comedy treatment.

Best Bits: I'm a huge fan of Whose Line is it Anyway? (so much so that my friends and I have definitely played their games during parties), so I already knew that I appreciated Mochrie's brand of humor. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found written within each story. Each begins and ends with a line from a classic story, some are written in prose, and each equally amazing. A Tale of Two Critters will bring up some familiar characters, and while I was reading it I was freaking out to another friend who is familiar with Mochrie. Could he have possibly written a story about...well, I don't want to spoil it. I found that he has a special ability with the poetry portions. Twas Not Right Before Christmas was probably my favorite thing about the whole book, and I laughed an insane amount. It's definitely going to be one I go back to if I'm having a down day.

Nit Picks: There were a couple stories that I thought could have been shortened a bit, but as a whole I thought that each story played an important part in the book. I also have a life nitpick, I was hoping to add some of my favorite quotes here, but my Kindle Keyboard tragically died.

I wanted more! There, I said it. Here's hoping that he writes a second book, and the rest of the Whose Line cast decides this is an excellent career decision and write books, too.

Not Quite the Classics
By Colin Mochrie
Published by Diversion Books
256 Pages
Received via Netgalley
Rating:

To learn more about me, click Here.
I am currently accepting books to review. If you're an author/publisher and you'd like to see a book/author featured on this site in another form, please email me: cornucopiaofreviews@gmail .com